CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. -- Hermit crabs are common on Delmarva, often sold as a novelty at gift shops near the beach. One woman on Chincoteauge Island is looking to alter that mindset.
Most people likely see hermit crabs as a cute gift, but Kate White sees them for the social crustaceans they really are.
"Despite being like hermits, like in the name, they love being around other ones," said White. "At least two or three, at least."
However, she also sees a dark side to how hermit crabs are treated by stores that see them as nothing more than inventory.
"I do think it's easy for them to see it that way because they've been doing it for so long, it's normalized to kind of objectify that animal," said White.
White is inviting stores across Delmarva to hand over unwanted hermit crabs to her, where she can properly take care of them in her 125-gallon tank. She doesn't plan on re-selling them though.
"I'm stable in this hobby, I just enjoy feeling like I'm doing something good," said White. "I'm more than happy to surrender them freely when the right home comes along, because I can take in another, that's fine with me."
She told us on Friday she wants to make sure stores that have hermit crabs don't just set them off to the side once the winter hits and less tourists are coming to town.
At Captain Steve's Tackle & Bait on Chincoteague, they have a plan in place to make sure their crabs are taken care of.
"We give them a heat lamp and put them in our back room, so we have them pretty much all year," said Jimmy Vasiliou. "Feed them once a day, they usually get a shower once a day and so we take care of them because people come buy hermit crabs all throughout, even in the winter time."
If any stores aren't as on top of their hermit crab care as Captain Steve's, Linda Flinchbaugh, who was visiting Chincoteauge on Friday, hopes they look to White.
"I think she's doing a wonderful thing, I wish her success," said Flinchbaugh.
White said she has room in her tank for six more hermit crabs. The more loving homes she can find, the more crabs she can take in.
